With the new Wiis, just be aware that you can’t downgrade below 4.2U or install the firmware version of Bootmii. The DVD drives won’t read backups either. Other than that it should be about the same if you go the USB route.
With 4.3U you’ll have to use Indian Pwns or Smash Stack to install HBC/Bootmii.
Also worth noting, the new HBC has USB2 and DVDX support directly integrated so any application launched from it will natively get that support. This is especially useful for loading games from a USB drive as you won’t have to always worry about getting the updated version after you update your Wii.